6 Questions a Marketer Should Ask Before Creating a Banner Ad

If you ask a lot of questions, it doesn’t mean you’re a stupid person. It means that you are curious and you want to find out answers to help you create the best project you can. More than that, you want to know why this is the right way to go and how big or low the impact will be.

Before I start doing something there are two ways I choose to go on about that thing: the first one is about experimenting and doing something just because I want to test it and see how it works, and the second is asking questions. I ask myself a lot of questions before I do something, no matter if it’s in the context of content marketing, social media marketing or strategy.

I used to feel stupid for questioning everything and sometimes I felt like I’m being really annoying to the people around me. But guess what? Thanks to my questions, I have found answers that have helped me throughout my professional path.

I believe that everybody should start doing their own work by asking questions. Even before you type in your first word on a blog post, create a marketing strategy, design a banner ad, create a logo, coding or whatever you mainly do.

[Tweet “Asking questions is relevant for your start.”]

In this post, I’ve put together 6 questions that will help you understand the power of your banner ads and how to create them so that your target audience will click on them:

1. Do I understand the impact of my banner ad on the customer?

Think about this before you think about your campaign.

How big is the impact going to be for your customer and for the new users who are going to see your banner ad? For example, if you look at a discount as a big thing, I recommend you put yourself in the customers’ shoes and look at it from their perspective. Will this discount be a big thing for them too?

Your banner ad can be the bridge between your new customer and your product. Make it solid. Build it in the right place at the right time for the right people.

[Tweet “First, think about the audience, then about the brand.”]

2. Am I communicating the right message with my banner ad?

Facebook made some big changes lately – from the like button to the latest feature reactions. And guess what? They used the right reactions that everybody can easily understand. A “wow” for me means the same thing for another person in Canada. Or a “Love” for a Hungarian marketer can also be a “Love” reaction for the Japanese designer.

And this is only a basic example of how to create a message that everybody comprehends easily.

Communication is the key to every relationship in every context. You can start it with your well crafted copy! For this, we designed an infographic that will help you create copy for your ads that converts the user into a loyal customer.

[Tweet “Communicate a simple message to the right audience.”]

3. How easy is it to understand the CTA button?

There are a few minor struggles when you insert your CTA button: how big should it be, what color should it be, what style to use, what message, what font, should you make the font light, medium or bold? And the list can go on.

Here is the big challenge for you as a marketer – what do you want from the user? To access your link, right? Well what does the user get if they access your link? An ebook they can download? A new discount? A bigger landing page about something new? A platform where they can learn more?

This is why, at Bannersnack, we already designed for you some CTA buttons templates that will make the user click on your banner ad.

[Tweet “Make your CTA message closely to your landing page.”]

4. Are the fonts readable?

You have the best message you’ve ever written, but if the font undecipherable, then you got a big issue.

Many marketers try to use shiny and stuffy fonts they think will pop-up in the users’ face and will make them click on that banner. But in fact, the simplest and wisest thing you can do is to use a professional and readable font and let some space around the message and the other design elements.

You don’t know what is the difference between a readable font and a non readable one. Let me give you a simple example: after you’ve done writing the message in your banner ad and used the proper font you want, I recommend you to step away from your desk, take 2 steps behind and look at your banner ad again. Can you read it? Now call someone next to you and ask them to read your banner ad too. Is it readable? Exactly. A simple exercise to see if your text is readable or not.

5. Do the users recognize the brand (logo, website name)?

When I introduce myself to somebody, firstly I tell them my name and then I say something related to our conversation, depending on the context. If I’m in a professional context I’m talking about my job or something related to it.

Now think about your banner ad in this exact way. What brand is behind your banner ad? What social proof sustains this banner ad? Tell me the name of the platform where this banner ad will get me before I will click on it.

[Tweet “Introduce your banner ad with your brand recognition.”]

6. How can I test my banner ad (change the CTA, change the image, change the text)?

We finally got to the last question, but not the least important one.

I believe in the power of testing, experimenting and measuring. Why? Because “Thank you, digital marketing” for letting us test everything we put out there nowadays. Especially in the banner ad and social media marketing industry. Test everything you use on your banner. Start with the message, with the colors, with the CTA, with the design elements, with the image, with the fonts.

Our new analytics tool offers a new level of detail when it comes to banner advertising statistics, going deeper than anyone into details, trying to understand user interaction better and how your banners are perceived by the public.

Apart from the usual statistics ( clicks, impressions, devices and location ) found in Google AdWords or any other banner advertising platform, we offer precise insights on how users interact with your banners.

If you are using animated banners or Rich Media Ads you can now see what elements receive the most attention from your audience. The build-in heat-map component shows you what part of the banner receives the most clicks, allowing you to make smarter decisions for your future banner designs.

[Tweet “Test everything. Measure everything.”]

Conclusion

I hope you will find in these question a simple guide to help you create and design a better banner ad experience with your customer.Now I want to know your opinion: what is your biggest struggle when you design a banner ad? Let me know in the comment section and let’s see how can we help each other.

Robert Katai is the content marketing manager of Bannersnack, a professional banner creation app for designers and marketers. His work was featured on Adweek, Entrepreneur, Marketing Profs, Content Marketing Institute and other places.